258 BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL 



matician holds toward industry a different relationship than other scientists, 

 a relationship which must be clearly understood by management if his 

 services are to be successfully exploited. 



The Place oj the Mathematician in Industrial Research 



The t)^ical mathematician described above is not the sort of man to 

 carry on an industrial project. He is a dreamer, not much interested 

 in things or the dollars they can be sold for. He is a perfectionist, unwilling 

 to compromise; idealizes to the point of impracticality; is so concerned with 

 the broad horizon that he cannot keep his eye on the ball. These traits 

 are not weaknesses; they are, on the contrary, of the highest importance 

 in the job of finding a system of thought which will harmonize the complex 

 phenomena of the physical world, that is in reducing nature to a science. 

 The job of industry, however, is not the advancement of natural science, 

 but the development, production and sale of marketable goods. The 

 physicist, the chemist, and especially the engineer, with their interest in 

 facts, things and money are obviously better adapted to contribute directly 

 to these ends. To the extent that the mathematician takes on project 

 responsibility, he is forced to compromise; he must specialize instead of 

 generalize; he must deal with concrete detail instead of abstract principles. 

 Some mathematicians cannot do these things at all; some by diligence and 

 self-restraint can do them very well. To the extent, however, that they 

 succeed along these lines they are functioning not as mathematicians 

 but as engineers. As mathematicians their place in industry is not to 

 supply the infinite attention to practical detail by which good products, 

 convenient services, and efficient processes are devised; their function is 

 to give counsel and assistance to those who do supply these things, to 

 appraise their everyday problems in the light of scientific thought, and 

 conversely to translate the abstract language of science into terms more 

 suitable for concrete exploitation. 



In other words, the mathematician in industry, to the extent to which 

 he functions as a mathematician, is a consultant, not a project man. 



Qualifications Necessary for Success as an Industrial Mathematician 



The successful industrial mathematician must not only be competent 

 as a mathematician; he must also have the other qualities which a consultant 

 requires : 



First, though his major interests will necessarily be abstract, he must have 

 sufficient interest in practical affairs to provide stimuli for useful work and 

 to reconcile him to the compromises and approximations which are neces- 



